Accessibility of board is questioned

Published: Tuesday, March 5, 2013 1:15 a.m. CDT

By Carolyn Brechon
Dixon

The Dixon teachers strike is a final cry for help to an indifferent superintendent and board, both of whom have no clue to teachers’ working conditions, lack of needed materials, non-reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses, and the many extra hours worked for the sake of their students.

To the board: How accessible are you, really? How many emails have you not answered? How can taxpayers contact you by phone when phone numbers have been changed? Why are teachers, who are also taxpayers, not allowed to contact you?

Being elected to the board is an honor with an obligation to the people who elected you. If you don’t want to communicate with them, please do not run for this position.

During negotiations, you need to remember that you are in control of the situation, not Superintendent Juenger. The superintendent answers to the board, not the board to the superintendent.

To Mayor Burke: Your comments in the March 1 Telegraph concerning the approximately $1 million in property tax revenue lost for the school district by the 12-year extension of the city’s TIF district leads me to doubt how important quality education is to you.

A very well-respected and dearly missed physician, Dr. Rifaqat Khan, served on the board’s education subcommittee with me several years ago. He knew the importance of quality education.

Industry and families relocating look for a town with an outstanding educational system, not one whose appearance and improvements take precedence. Maybe your priority should be internal affairs and improving internal controls so as to regain the respect and confidence of new industry, whose leaders may wonder how Dixon could operate for more than 20 years before realizing the theft of $53 million.

The board needs new blood and new members who value quality education.